The present invention relates to a structure for fixing a foreign object detection sensor to a bracket and a foreign object detection apparatus having the structure.
Conventionally, a foreign object detection apparatus may be employed in an electric door opening/closing apparatus, which selectively opens and closes an opening formed in the body of a vehicle, such as an entrance or a tail opening of the vehicle, by moving a door panel electrically using drive force produced by a motor. The foreign object detection apparatus detects a foreign object between a peripheral portion of the opening and the door panel, thus preventing the foreign object from being caught between the peripheral portion of the opening and the door panel. For example, in a foreign object detection apparatus described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-242535, a foreign object sensor, which detects a foreign object by being elastically deformed by external force applied by the foreign object detection, is fixed to a metal bracket attached to a peripheral portion of a door panel.
To reduce the weight of a vehicle having a foreign object detection apparatus, it is preferable to employ a plastic bracket, instead of a metal bracket. In a conventional structure for fixing a foreign object detection sensor to a plastic bracket, the sensor is adhered to the bracket using a double-faced adhesive tape, for example, and thus fixed to the bracket.
However, it is difficult to maintain the foreign object detection sensor in a stably fixed state when the sensor is adhered to the bracket with the double-faced adhesive tape.